Date: Thu, 23 Mar 1995 10:22:01 -0600 Reply-To: Z_DENTONAM@TITAN.SFASU.EDU Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Amy Denton Subject: REVELATIONS Part 3b Okay, folks. I managed to lose part B of this story so I'm going straight from memory. This should be interesting and hopefully my system won't be so glacially slow this time. Enjoy! As usual all comments, questions and flames are to be directed to z_dentonam@titan.sfasu.edu. ******************************************************************************** Revelations Part 3b by Amy M. Denton Richie stood there and chewed on his lip a moment more, wondering what to tell Joe or if he should tell Joe anything at all. Joe watched Richie, watched the emotions play across the younger man's face and wondered what was wrong. (Author's note: Richie, for the time being *is* younger than Joe) Something was wrong, that much was obvious. Something Richie obviously didn't want to tell anyone about. After watching Richie for a few more minutes Joe decided he *was* going to find out *what* was going on, even if he had to stay at the dojo all day. "Richie," He said in his most authoritarian voice. "What happened?" Perhaps it was a left-over reaction from childhood or maybe it was just the desire to tell someone, *anyone* what had been going on the past few days. Whatever it was, Richie looked like ten pounds had just been lifted off his shoulders. "He told her." he blurted out, looking away from Joe. "What?!" Joe said, not sure he had heard Richie correctly. "He told her." Richie repeated himself. "He told her what he was." It took a moment for Joe to catch on. "Oh." A pause. "Told who?" Richie looked at Joe for a momemt and frowned. "Anne. Who else would he tell?" "Oh." Another pause. "Oh!" Understanding flooded Joe's face. "When?" "Four days ago." Richie perched on the edge of the desk. "How'd she handle it?" "She left." "How'd he," Joe motioned to the floor above them. "handle it?" "He didn't." "That's why I haven't see him?" "Ummhumm." Joe nodded his understanding. He edged a little a closer to Richie and lowered his voice just a little. "How's he really handling it? Have you been up there to see him?" Richie gave a look that said 'what?do-I-look-that-stupid' to Joe. "I'd like to live just a bit longer, thank you very much." he said. He hopped off the desk and started to walk around office. He paced in the smallish office for a few moments, his back to Joe, before he finally turned to face him. "It's killing him, Joe." he said in a low voice. "It's eating him up and he just doesn't seem to care. It's like he's stopped living and is just going through the motions." Joe had never seen Richie this upset. True, he hadn't know Richie all that long, two, maybe three years but still, he had never seen him *this* upset. He looked to be on the verge of breaking down, something Joe really didn't want to see. He moved over to where Richie was and put a hand on the young man's shoulder. "It's okay. Why don't you tell me what's being going on?" There was silence for a few moments before Richie finally sighed, perched himself on the desk corner again and started to speak. "I don't know how Anne found out but a few nights ago, I was here, I knew he was up there with Anne. They had gone out, to a restaurant, I think. Anyway, I knew he had been wrestling with the decision on wether or not to tell her. That night, I heard the elevator go up, but it didn't come down. 'Great' I'm thinking 'He told her 20 minutes later though, the elevator comes down, she comes tearing off, disappears out the door and that was the last I saw of her. As for him, he looks terrible. I've seen him a couple of times since. It's like turned in on himself, like he's crawled back into that damn shell of his!! It's driving me crazy. I don't know what to do with him. He's just given up. I swear he has." Richie got up from the desk and started to pace. He stopped and looked at Joe again. "He hasn't shaved, hasn't eaten, at least I don't think he's eaten, hasn't slept. He looks like a ghost and he won't talk about it. I don't know what to do, really I don't. I'll tell you something though, ever since then, he comes down every few hours, tells me he's going out and *poof*! Disappears for hours on end. I don't know where he goes or what he does. I know he's not taking the T-Bird because I don't hear it start. Other than that though, I don't know where he's going. I don't know *why* he's going. As usual, he won't tell me anything." Richie got up from the corner of the desk walked around and dropped into the chair behind it. Joe waited a few minutes before speaking, just to give Richie time to finish if he hadn't already. When Richie remained silent he said "Is he carrying his sword?" Richie shrugged his shoulders "I don't know." "You don't think he would..." Joe let the sentence trail off. "No!" Richie snapped. "I don't think he would. I really don't think it's gotten that bad." Richie scowled at Joe. He was the very picture of unhappiness. Joe sighed, then paused before speaking "You've got one *hell* of a problem, don't you?" "Tell me about it." he said "What am I going to do Joe? I can't stand to see him this way. He's suffering, Anne's suffering. Even I'm suffering. I hate watching him suffer and there's nothing I can do, is there?" "No, there isn't. Richie, it's admirable of you to want to help but what are you going to do? The man's 400 years old, he's gone through this before and he's handled it. What can you expect to do?" Richie scowled at Joe. "You are not helping." Joe shrugged his shoulder. "Sorry. I don't know what to tell you. He's handled it before. He can handle it now. I know that sounds cold-hearted but what do you expect?" Richie looked out the window for a moment after Joe finished speaking. When he looked back a moment later,the only word to describe the look on Richie's face was dispair. "You haven't seen him Joe." He said quietly. "It's killing him." He said, repeating himself. "and it's killing me to watch him." As if on cue, the elevator to the loft groaned into action. The two men listed and waited while the elevator creaked and groaned it's way down to the first floor. They heard the door slid up, watched Duncan stepped into view and then Joe gasped in surprise. One of the things Joe had always liked about Duncan was the way he carried himself. Head back, shoulders straight, a confident stride. One that showed confidence and self-assurance. This however was not part of the person who walked into view (more like shuffled). The Duncan MacLeod Joe saw shuffle out of the elevator looked like a defeated man. If Richie had been the picture of unhappiness, Duncan was the picture of depression. His head was down, hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched forward and he *shuffled*, actually shuffled, across the floor. To say that Joe was shocked, whould have been putting it midly. Duncan stoppped and turned his head toward the office and once again Joe gasped in surprise. "I'm going out Richie. I'll be back later." he said in a subdudded tone. He looked through Joe like he wasn't even there. Joe was beyond shocked. In all the years of watching Duncan, he had never seen him look so...defeated. When Duncan had told Richie he was going out, he had gotten a glipse of Duncan's face and what he saw worried him. Richie had been right. He looked terrible. He hadn't shaved, he had bags under his eyes, his hair was hanging in his face and he just had an air of apathy surrounding him. It *was* like he had stopped living, like he just didn't care anymore. The two men watch Duncan shuffle out the door and then Richie spoke. "See what I mean? He's why the dojo's closed today. I'm afraid someone's going to see him like that, make some offhand remark and get crap beaten out of him when Mac flips." "I don't think he do that Richie, I really don't." "You ask if he would do anything to hurt himself." "Is he drinking?" "Not yet. I hope he doesn't start. That would make this ten times as worse." Joe shook his head. "I don't know what to tell you Richie. I know you want to do something and I'd like to help. I just don't know if there's anything we can do." ******************************************************************************* Okay, there you are. I'm working on the next section, even as I type. Enjoy. Amy z_dentonam@titan.sfasu.edu =========================================================================